Saturday, December 1, 2007

A Call for Errata

So, I have a chance to make a few corrections for the next printing of the English edition of THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT. I'm going through and compiling a list of all the ones I know about; if you've come across an error or omission, or what you think might be one, please let me know within the next day or two. --John R

Hey John. Normally a call for errata elicits an evil grin on my part; but fortunately for you, I’ve not really come across any in my reading so far (that I’ve noticed, anyway). I did a very quick spot-check of the index (often, this is another trouble spot), but only one thing came up. You have “Elf-Friend”, but isn’t Tolkien’s usage pretty much universally “Elf-friend”?

Yes, that is the best I could do (on short notice). This reflects a job very well done on the part of you and your editors. On the other hand, I know one person who might do better -- if he has a copy. Have you heard from Merlin, by chance?

I'm in the middle of reading your great work (almost finished with Vol 1). I might note that the Jewish new year can fall in early September as well as late September or early October (p.123).It fell on September 6th in 1994.

Also (somewhat off topic) it has been argued that the Author (or author for the less traditional) of Leviticus 11:20-23 described grasshoppers (and locusts and crickets) as "four-legged" (p.333)because of the four legs used for walking, along with the two others used for jumping.

I was just writing an overview of 'Return to Bag-End' and when I tried to link to the article you mention in your "Notes on Dragons in Modern Fantasy" (pg. 538), the link appears to be dead. (http://www3.sympatico.ca/ci.kerr/dragons.html)

I know it was up a week or two back when I first read it, but now I get a "Page Cannot Be Found" error. Not sure if this is a temporary problem or if the page was permanently removed.

Regarding the Eagles of the Misty Mountains, it's not clear in the essay whether you feel that THE HOBBIT's King of the Eagles is identical to Gwaihir in LORD OF THE RINGS. Douglas Anderson in ANNTATED HOBBIT feels that they aren't, but is this unanimous?

I don't see any entry for the Eagles in the HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT Index, either.

Even though this is a couple of years late ... I started reading the History of the Hobbit (2007 HarperCollins edition) first recently and found that on page 356 in Note 7 there is a page number missing in the reference. The sentence I am referring to is Tolkien's failure to correct it in later editions undoubtedly means he never noticed the discrepancy - after all he dwarves family tree in Appendix A probably did not exist when the second edition of The Hobbit was accidentally created in 1947 (see p. 000). It would be nice if you could add the correct page to your website as I am rather curious to find out more about an accidental second edition.